5th Sunday of Lent (C) – April 6, 2025

St. Paul – Lyons, KS

Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126:1-6; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11

Les Miserables: The Renewal of Jean Valjean

I’ve told you before that during high school I took the shortcut that many people in life take. The one where, instead of reading the books assigned, I used the shorter version called “CliffsNotes.” Classic! One of those books was the classic Victor Hugo work called Les Miserables. Now, to be fair, it is 1,500 pages long—and to be fair, I was supposed to read it when I was 16 or 17…soooooo…yeah. I read it later in life, so I got around to it.

Les Mis—Les Mis became a much more well-known cultural icon in the 80’s when the book was adapted into a musical. And then the year after I graduated from high school—so a year too late!—the musical was adapted into a movie—Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe. And that’s when Les Mis became a very well-known story.

You probably know then, maybe you don’t—but the story focuses on the character Jean Valjean. Jean was convicted of stealing a loaf of bread for his sister and her children, and he gets five years in prison with hard labor for it—but ends up spending nineteen years in prison. And then, even after he is released, he is given what’s called a “yellow passport.” So everywhere he goes, ever place he tries to stay, every time he tries to get a job—he is an outcast, a “marked man,” he can’t do anything.

Eventually, though, he has an encounter that changed his life. He meets the Bishop of Dinge, Bishop Myriel, and is given food and shelter in his house one evening. Famously, that night, Jean Valjean steals the Bishop’s silverware and takes off. He is caught by the police, and when they take him back to the Bishop so that the Bishop can confirm the crime, condemn this man to a life in prison—in that moment the Bishop does something incredible and now well-known. The Bishop, instead of condemning him—the Bishop says that the silver is Jean Valjean’s, and tells Jean that he forgot to take the silver candlesticks that we his as well. The Bishop—in this incredible act of clemency and mercy—the Bishop changes Jean’s life.

From this life-changing encounter, Jean Valjean becomes an honorable and dignified man. He becomes kind, adopts a young girl who lost her mother, a benefactor to those in need. He comes to represent the best traits of humanity. As the Victor Hugo writes in the novel, “What the bishop had wished to make of him, he accomplished. And it was more than a transformation; it was a transfiguration. […] From then on [from his encounter with the Bishop on], he had only two thoughts: to conceal his name and to sanctify his life; to escape from men and to return to God.” 

But even when his desire to conceal his name—right, so to keep his past a secret—even that is not as important as sanctifying his life. So after that encounter with the Bishop, he becomes a wealthy factory owner and a benevolent mayor; he funds schools, hospitals, helps the poor. But he has broken parole, he is living under a new identity. One day another man is caught and everyone swears that it is Jean Valjean; he is put on trial, about to be convicted and sentenced to life. But Jean Valjean steps in, turns himself in, and he gives up his life to save this innocent man. And even though he escapes again, he is forced to give up his new life and start all over again. As Hugo wrote, whenever his desire to remain concealed conflicted with his desire to sanctify his life, “He did not hesitate to sacrifice the first to the second—his security to his virtue.”

The Tale As Old As Time

Again, there’s a reason that this novel is one of the best of all time. Just an incredibly powerful story. But also, a story plagiarized right out of Scripture. All over Scripture is this very story; the overarching story is this story. It is the story of sin, the guilt of sin being exposed, the offer of mercy and clemency, and then the decision to live a new life or to return to the old.

We talked about his a few weeks ago: the people rescued from slavery in Egypt by Moses. This is exactly the story. Here are these people, a sinful people. And that sinfulness and its consequences is embodied by their captivity, their guilt being exposed and their being slaves, captives. But then they are offered mercy and clemency by God; He rescues them. But then what happens, famously, as they’re journeying through the desert, journeying to ta new life? They want to go back! They have that decision to live a new life or return to the old, and they want to go back to the old!

Ok. This is the story! All throughout the Scriptures, all throughout salvation history, this is the overarching story. And this is the story of our lives—this is the great drama being played out in our lives as well!

The Woman Caught In Adultery

One of the most powerful retellings of this is this famous scene in our Gospel today. The woman caught in adultery. Again, same overarching story. Here is this woman, a sinful woman. And she is caught, her guilt is exposed. And yet what happens? Instead of condemnation, she is offered clemency and mercy. It’s beautiful: Jesus condemns sin, but not her. But Jesus doesn’t say, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and live as you please,” no. Jesus says, “Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” And then what happens? What happens? Did you fall asleep when I was reading it? No! Exactly! We aren’t told what happens! The door is left open. The decision—the decision remains: will she live a new life, or return to the old?

This is what I mean: Victor Hugo just plagiarized the story of Scripture. Because this woman is in the exact same position as Jean Valjean. She is caught, Valjean is caught; She is taken to Jesus, Valjean is taken to the Bishop, this figure of Jesus Christ; she is offered mercy and clemency, Valjean is offered mercy and clemency. But now? Now is the decision. Remember, Jean Valjean—Valjean accomplished what the Bishop desired to make of his: a transformation, a transfiguration, a renewed life. Valjean concealed his identity (in other words, he started a totally new life), and he tried to sanctify his life. The mercy and healing Jean Valjean received led to a new life! But this woman—we don’t know. The story is left open. Why?

Because the question is being posed to us. In all of our struggles and sins and faults—like we’ve been talking for weeks—in the midst of all of this, a healing, a renewal is offered, is given. And praise God! But now? But now we have the choice. Will we live a new, a renewed and transformed, transfigured life? Or will we just keep returning to the old?

Our patron, St. Paul—Paul is another great example of this. Saul was a grave sinner, murdered Christians. But in a life-changing encounter with Jesus, Saul is offered clemency and mercy. Remember, he is struck blind, but then receives a healing from Ananias? Saul is given this same choice. And we know what he chose: Saul lived a radically transformed and transfigured life. We heard in our second reading, “I consider everything as a loss…I have accepted the loss of all things [so] that I may gain Christ.” Saul conceals his name, changes it from Saul to Paul, lives trying to sanctify his life, “forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.” But even then, like Jean Valjean, Paul willing admits to his crimes and his sinfulness when it means helping others; several times he talks about his persecution of the Church, endures suffering and beatings and imprisonment. Why? Because he embraced this new life in Christ.

The Offer of a New Life

Ok. For us—for us it is no different. Each and every one of us is sinful, guilty, imperfect, flawed. And whether we’ve been caught, or whether we just own up to it ourselves—to each and every one of us, the Lord offers nothing but mercy and clemency and healing. (Again, like I mentioned last week, please take advantage of our Penance Service next Sunday. Go and receive that mercy and healing that the Lord offers.) But then—then what’s next? It’s the decision. Will I accept and embrace this new life, the new and fresh start being offered to me by Christ? Or just go back to the old?

Like Jean Valjean, like the woman caught in adultery, like Paul—all of us are offered an incredible gift, a mercy, clemency, a healing. But now we have to choose. Like Jean Valjean and Paul, we can leave behind our old “name,” our old reputation, our past, and we can embrace a life of sanctity. Like Jean Valjean and Paul, we can share our past as a powerful testimony of the healing and mercy the Lord has given us. Like Jean Valjean and Paul, we can embrace our share in the sufferings of Jesus Christ and pursue the goal, the prize. We can embrace the newness of life given to us. That is the choice given to us. Not, “Will Jesus forgive me or not?” But, “Will I embrace this new life offered to me?”